The Pottery and Tattoo skills are both new to The Sims 4 through the Businesses and Hobbies Expansion Pack. They offer you not only great small business ideas but also new hobbies for your Sims to learn during their downtime.
Whether you want your Sims to craft beautiful clay creations or ink up another Sim’s body with beautiful, permanent designs, practice makes perfect, and it’s a long journey to the max level of these skills. We’ll dive into how you can master the Pottery and Tattoo skills, as well as what these skills offer your Sims.
Pottery skill guide in The Sims 4 Businesses and Hobbies
Your Sims can now create a myriad of decorative objects with the Pottery skill. They can use this skill to either decorate their own home or sell their creations through a business. Eventually, they can also learn the art of Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pots back together.
How to increase the Pottery skill
The main hands-on approach for Sims to learn Pottery is to create clay creations themselves. You’ll just need two items, the Pottery Wheel and the Pottery Kiln. Together, they’ll cost your Sim 1080 Simoleons, so it can be an expensive hobby to start if you’re low on money. If you don’t want to purchase these objects yourself, you can always visit Terra-Potta in Nordhaven, the new world in Businesses and Hobbies.
It’s a small business that you can support by only paying a 9 Simoleon entry fee, giving you easy access to these workstations. Your Sim must first start with the Pottery Wheel, and their skill will grow as they shape and create their pottery. After it’s done, they’ll take it to the Pottery Kiln to harden, and voila! Doing this over and over again will slowly build your Pottery skill, giving you access to better creations over time.
Other than this method, there are a few other ways you can boost your Pottery skill:
- Read a Pottery Skill book. There are three volumes (Vol. 1 = levels 1-3, Vol. 2 = levels 4-6, Vol. 3 = levels 7-10) you can purchase through a bookshelf or a computer. It takes time to read these, but it will slowly increase your Pottery skill if you read the correct volume.
- Visit a class or lecture. Also introduced in this Expansion Pack are classes and lectures through the whiteboard object. Luckily, Terra-Potta will often hold classes in which your Sim must pay a fee to participate and learn from an expert. Lectures are free, but classes are the best way to increase this skill.
- Be mentored. Another Sim with a high enough Pottery skill can mentor your Sim to help build their Pottery skill.
Pottery skill levels
- Level 1: Round Vase ceramic unlocked.
- Level 2: Plant Pot and Candle Lantern ceramics unlocked, and Sim can Discuss Pottery Techniques with other Sims.
- Level 3: Cake Stand ceramic unlocked.
- Level 4: Candle Holder ceramic unlocked.
- Level 5: Oil Burner ceramic unlocked, and Sim can Mentor others in Pottery.
- Level 6: Incense Burner and Gnome Sculpture ceramics unlocked.
- Level 7: Tea Set ceramic unlocked, and Sim can perform Kintsugi on broken ceramics.
- Level 8: Raccoon Vase ceramic unlocked.
- Level 9: Abstract Sculpture and Intricate Vase ceramics unlocked.
- Level 10: Abstract Wall Sculpture and Romantic Sculpture ceramics unlocked, and Sim can glaze a ceramic with Unbreakable Coating.
Tattoo skill guide in The Sims 4 Businesses and Hobbies
The Tattooing skill allows your Sim to give other Sims permanent tattoos on their body either through pre-made designs or custom drawings. Although before this pack, Sims could have tattoos from Create-A-Sim, you can now run a tattoo parlor and design hand-drawn tattoos yourself.
How to increase the Tattoo skill
The most common way for your Sim to build the Tattooing skill is to give other Sims tattoos with the Deluxe Tattoo Table. It costs 736 Simoleons, and although that sounds pricey, there’s no cost whenever you tattoo another Sim.
With this table, you can either practice on other Sims, or you can have Sims pay for you to tattoo them. If you’re struggling to get Sims to come to your lot to tattoo them, turning it into a small business may be the way to go.
There are a few other easy ways to boost the Tattooing skill if you don’t want to go for the typical route:
- Design tattoos on a sketchpad: Once you purchase your digital sketchpad, you can then spend $50 to design a tattoo that you eventually can sell. Think of it as the painting skill where it costs you Simoleons to buy the canvas, but you earn money back after selling your design.
- Read a Tattooing Skill Book: There are three volumes (Vol. 1 = levels 1-3, Vol. 2 = levels 4-6, Vol. 3 = levels 7-10) you can purchase through a bookshelf or a computer. It takes time to read these, but it will slowly increase your Tattooing skill if you read the correct volume.
- Visit a class or lecture: If you have a whiteboard and some tattoo tables or digital sketchpads, you can have a Sim with the Tattooing skill teach a class or run a lecture to help increase the skill for other Sims.
- Be mentored. Another Sim with a high enough Tattooing skill can mentor your Sim to help build their Tattooing skill
Tattoo skill levels
- Level 1: Sim can give others tattoos through a Tattoo Table and draw designs on a digital sketchpad.
- Level 2: Wisp Voidcritter chest tattoo and Key tattoo stamp unlocked, tattooing fees charged to other Sims increased, and they can talk about tattooing with Sims.
- Level 3: Freezer Bunny right lower arm tattoo and Flame tattoo stamp unlocked.
- Level 4: Sim can Offer Tattoo Removal, tattooing fees increased, and Pleuro Voidcritter stomach tattoo and Calligraphy tattoo stamp unlocked.
- Level 5: Sim can Mentor others in Tattooing, and Geometric tattoo stencil, Celtic Snake upper left arm tattoo, and Cats tattoo stamp unlocked.
- Level 6: Tattooing fees increased, and Vulpes Voidcritter left leg tattoo and Pigeon tattoo stamp unlocked.
- Level 7: Sim can Offer Tattoo Touch-ups, and Floral Half Sleeve right upper arm tattoo and Cute Skull tattoo stamp unlocked.
- Level 8: Tattooing fees increased, and Simoleon upper back tattoo and Triskelion tattoo stamp unlocked.
- Level 9: Celtic Chain right leg tattoo and Turtle tattoo stamp unlocked.
- Level 10: Tattooing fees increased, and Maple Leaf tattoo stencil, Floral Crown head tattoo, and Crystal Heart tattoo stamp unlocked.